What Happens If an Exception Is Thrown in a static Block | Tricky Java Interview Questions — Part 19

Hello Developers,

Welcome to Part 19 of the Tricky Java Interview Questions series.

Here’s today’s classic question:

What happens if an exception is thrown in a static block in Java?

At first, it seems like any other exception-handling question — but static blocks operate during class loading, which makes the answer different and important.

Let’s explore.

Quick Recap: What Is a Static Block?

A static block is a class-level initializer in Java. It runs once, when the class is loaded by the JVM, before any constructor or method is invoked.

Example:

public class Demo {
    static {
        System.out.println("Static block executed");
    }
}

This block runs only once, the first time Demo is loaded into memory.

Now What If It Throws an Exception?

Let’s test it:

public class Problematic {
    static {
        System.out.println("Static block starts");
        int x = 1 / 0; // ArithmeticException
        System.out.println("Static block ends");
    }

    public static void sayHello() {
        System.out.println("Hello");
    }
}